I like to enjoy the ironies in life. Remember how we once worried about privacy on the internet? We didn't want Amazon to know what we bought last time we shopped. We worried that our Google searches would end up compiled in a master database on a server farm somewhere? (they are...).
Then came blogs and many of us started to share our thoughts and ideas with all who would listen. Then social networks like MySpace and Facebook allowed us to share nearly everything else with our hundreds of "friends". And now we have life streaming. New sites including Lifestream.fm, Twitter and Friendfeed allow users to instantly update their digital personas across numerous networks with every single, minute detail of their lives.
People are generally willing to tell us what they like, what they want, what they need. Yet, as marketers we continue to not listen. We compile marketing data, do analysis after analysis, send email and direct mail, then look for sales. But do we actually communicate? Do we meet our customers' needs? Do we provide for a continuous loop of enhanced understanding?
Compiling data alone won't do the trick. It's the nuances we see, the insight we impart, the understanding of who our customers are, that makes us intelligent marketers.
